Mother's horror at her rapist son

Angelina Mavrides, the mother of one of a teenage gang convicted of the violent rape of an Austrian tourist in London yesterday spoke about how she told police that her son, Nicholas, now serving 10 years in prison, had been involved in the attack.

Despite death threats, she acted as a key police witness, identifying the other gang members involved in the rape of the women in King's Cross, last September.

Ms Mavrides, of Camden Town, told the News of the World that Nicholas, 16, told her about the rape the morning after.

She described how she cried, banged her head against the wall and was physically sick after seeing the story on television. Feeling close to a nervous breakdown, she talked to her social worker and then phoned the police. "They took Nicky away," she said. "I felt a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, like a whole load of mess had been wiped clean."

"I wanted to harm myself. I felt hurt and angry. I know what rape is. I know what it means."

Nicholas and the seven other gang members, aged 14 to 17, were sentenced to a total of 77 years of detention last week.